Improving a poor Scarlet Robin field recording
Yesterday, I was looking for Scarlet Robins in the New England region with some photographer friends. At the first place we checked out, I made a recording with my new OM Systems LS-P5 recorder, to use as room sound (ambient) if I decided to make a proper video of the outing. It was also an opportunity to test the recording quality of the LS-P5.
Even though I used a dead cat (fur muffler) on the microphone, the audio I captured was marred by wind noise. I could hear Red Wattlebirds while I was on location, but it wasn't until I downloaded the recording to my computer and examined it with Adobe Audition that I discovered some higher-frequency calls in the waveform. When I processed the file with a couple of iterations of Audition's Graphic Equaliser effect, I was surprised to find that the calls were made by a Scarlet Robin. It's ironic that we left the first location without knowing that scarlets were there.
I couldn't hear the robin when I was on location. It's impressive, to me, that the LS-P5 recording contained data I could not hear until I processed the file. Having 70-year-old ears has something to do with that!